FLACCUS, L. VALERIUS:

Proconsul of Asia Minor in 62-61 B.C. He is notorious in the history of the Jews for having seized for the public treasury the Temple money intended for Jerusalem; thus, at Apamea, nearly 100 pounds of gold through the Roman knight Sextus Cæsius; at Laodicea, more than 20 pounds through L. Peducæus; at Adramyttium, an unknown sum through the legate Cnæus Domitius; at Pergamon, a small sum, as probably not many Jews were living there at that time. Accused of extortion during his term of office, Flaccus was defended by Cicero (59), himself opposed to the Jews. Cicero justified Flaccus in reference to the Temple money by using a clever oratorical device to show that his edict, to the effect that no money should be sent out of Asia, was a law general in its application, and that the subordinates of Flaccus, who were all men of good repute, had proceeded openly and not in secret (Cicero, "Pro Flacco," § 28). The outcome of the suit is not known. It is not likely, however, that Flaccus was punished.